Spear-fishing gun



F. A. ERICKSON SPEAK-FISHING GUN Oct. 21, 1958 Filed May 1, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. .Jollfe H. 'rlcKson Mai-T Oct. 21, 1958 F. A.'ERICK$ON SPEAR-FISHING cum 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 1, 1957 INVENTOR. Jollfe H. Erickson Oct. 21, 1958 F. A. ERICKSON SPEAR-FISHING GUN 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 1, 1957 INVENTOR. J0me H. Sricifison Unite atent SPEAK-FISHING GUN Folke A. Erickson, Holden, Mass.

Application May 1, 1957, Serial No. 656,406

3 Claims. (Cl. 124-27) This invention relates to a spear-fishing gun and more particularly to a spring-powered apparatus for throwing a projectile in fishing or the like.

In the past it has been well-known, particularly in underwater fishing, to make use of a powerful gun for discharging a spear toward the fish. These guns were capable of firing only a spear at a loading and have been powered by various means, including springs, compressed gas, etc. It would be desirable in certain circumstances to be able to discharge two spears, either together or separately, on a single loading. Often the first spear misses the fish, Whereas a second would strike the game. Furthermore, in catching dangerous fish, such as the shark,

, it is well to have a reserve spear in case the fish attacks the fisherman. These and other deficiencies of the prior art have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is therefore an outstanding object of the present invention to provide a spear gun capable of projecting two spears either separately or together on a single loading.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a spear gun mechanism using spring power and permitting successive discharge of a plurality of spears.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a spear gun having a mechanism which is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, simple in construction, and is capable of a long life of satisfactory operation.

It is another object of the invention to provide an underwater-fishing gun having two separately-discharged spears, so that the fisherman can secure the fish with his first shot and then deliver a fatal blow with the second.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Referring first to Figure 1, wherein is best shown the general features of the invention, the gun, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown as consisting of a hollow handle 11 carrying two tubular barrels 12 and 13. The handle consists of two portions 14 and 15 which are normally bolted together and each of which carries, respectively, a barrel 12, 13. In Figure 1 the portion 14 of the handle and most of the barrel 12 have been removed to facilitate understanding of the invention. The gun makes use of two spears 16, each of which has a. barbed head 17 at its forward end, a transverse stop "ice pin 18, and circumferential notch 19 at the rearward end. The barrel 13 carries a coil spring 21 at its rearward end; the spring is held in the barrel by a bolt 22 at its rearward end and its forward end is provided with a plug 23. The plug has a rearward abutment 24 which fits tightly into the spring and a forwardly-directed recess 25 which embraces a rounded rearward end of the spear. A similar spring 26 and plug 27, shown in Figure 2, are provided for the barrel 12.

In the preferred embodiment, the handle 11, has the general form of a -caliber automatic pistol and is pro-' vided with a trigger guard 28. A trigger 29 is pivotally fastened within the handle by means of a hinge pin 31 extending transversely between the portions 14 and 15 of the handle. The trigger 29 is provided with an extension 32 at its lower rearward portion; the free end of this extension is connected by means ofa coil spring 33 to a pin 34 extending transversely across the lower forward portion of the handle. The hinge pin 31 is located above the trigger guard and forwardly of the said pin 34, so that the net effect is to cause the trigger to be resiliently biased ,to a forward position wherein the finger-contacting edge is located in the forward part of the loop formed by the trigger guard 28. The trigger is provided with a forwardly-directed finger 35, the free end of which is provided with a transverse pin 36; this pin passes through the finger and is firmly fastened thereto. The pin extends some distance on either side of the trigger, so that the ends reside closely. adjacent the inner surfaces of the portions 14- and 15 of the handle.

A pivot pin 37 extends through the handle 11 at the forward portion thereof and hinged to this pin are two trip bars 33 and 39; these bars are elongated and are attached to the pin 37 at their forward ends. At the rearward end the bar 39 is provided with a slot or notch 42, while the bar 38 is formed with a notch 41. The

transverse pin 36 of the trigger lies within these notches at all times. In each case, the notch consists of spaced parallel sides terminating inwardly in a semi-circular end. In the case of the notch 41 in the trip bar 38, the distance between the parallel sides of the notch is about the same as the diameter of the pin 36, while the sides of the slot 42 of the trip bar 36 are spaced apart by a distance considerably larger than the diameter of the pin. A wire spring 43 engages the rearward portion of the bar 39, is coiled around the pivot pin 37 and has a free end engaging an inner surface of the handle to lock the spring against rotation relative to the pin; the net effect of this arrangement of the spring is to resiliently bias the bar 39 upwardly.

Now, the barrel 13 is provided with a slot 44 through which the rearward end of the trip bar 39 extends when in an upward position; a similar slot 45 permits entrance of the rearward end of the trip bar 38 into the barrel 12;

The bars 38 and 39 are provided with recesses 46 and 47,

respectively, in their lower edges and in these recesses reside a safety bar 48 which is semi-circular in crosssectional shape; the pin extends through one side of the handle to the outer surface of the portion 15 and is there provided with a selector finger 49. A similar safety bar 51 is provided on the other side of the gun to control the bar'38. The upper rearward portion of the bars 38 and 39 are provided with sharp shoulders'to fit snugly in thenotches 19 of the spears.

A collar 51 is slidably mounted on the barrels 12 and 13 forwardly of thehandle and is provided with a set screw 52 so that it may be locked in a selected position. From the collar extend integral pairs of ears 53 and 54 between which are pivotally connected pressure arms 55 and 56, respectively. The inner ends of the arms are curved' on the rearward side, as shown by dotted lines in Figure -1, so that they will lock in the position shown Patented OctLZI, 1958 stood in view ofthe above description. The gun is booked and placed inoperativecondition by inserting eachspear into the open end of its barrel and pressing it against the plug 23- and thespring 21; eventually the spear will be moved rearwardlyfinto the barrel until the loading: pin 13 strikes the mouth of the barrel. At that time one of the tripbars will reside in the reduced portion or groove 19 of the spear. The rearward ends of the trip bars normally reside within the slots in the barrels and against their extended springs because of the upward pressure of the pin' 36,against the upper edges of their notches. The pin 36is also biased upwardly by the action of the spring 33 on the trigger.

The gun must beloaded by insertion of a spear in the barrel 13 first; the spear compresses the spring-21' and permits the trip bar 39 to rise into the groove 19 under the action of the spring 43. At this time, the trip bar 33in the barrel 12 cannot rise into the barrel because the extended spring in that barrel covers the slot. Then, theinsertion of a spear in the barrel 12 compresses the spring andpermits the trip bar 38 to enter the barrel through theslot andreside in locking engagement in the groove of thespear. If one attempted to insert a spear in the barrel 12 first, the upward movement of the trip bar 38 ,would be prevented because of the extended spring in the barrel 13 preventing the trip bar 39 from entering its barrel and, of course, the pin 36 would extend this prohibition to the trip bar 38. This action of the extended spring in allowing loading only of the barrel 13 first introduces a safety factor; if it were possible to load barrel 12 first and the operator did so by mistake, the subsequent attempt to load barrel 13 would release the spear from barrel 12 and possibly injure the operator.

With the gunloaded and cocked, the trip bars are in their uppermost positions with their upper rearward shoulders residing in the grooves 19 in their respective spears. When the fisherman wishes to release a spear, he squeezed the trigger 29 and moves it rearwardly within the loop of the trigger guard 28. This movement of the trigger brings about a downward movement of the pin 36; since the notch 41 of the trip bar 38 is the same width as the diameter of the pin, there is no play between the two and the bar 38 moves out of the groove 19 in the spear and the spear in the barrel 12 is released and is thrown forwardly with considerable force by the spring 21. If the movement of the trigger 29 is restricted by the safety mechanism, no movement of the trip bar 39Will take place, since its notch 42 is considerably wider than the diameter of the pin. There is, therefore, a considerable movement of the trigger which is possible without moving the trip bar 39 and releasing the spear in the barrel 13. After the spear in the barrel 12 has been projected, further rearward movement of the trigger and further downward movement of the pin 36 will eventually bring about contact between the pin and the lower edge of the notch 42 of the trip bar 39. Further downward movement of the pin after the said contact will result in withdrawalof the trip bar 39 from the notch 19 in its spear. The spear in the barrel 13 will then be released and will be projected from the gun.

If, after the gun has been cocked, the operator Wishes tobe sure that it will not be accidentally discharged, the selector finger 49 may be moved to condition the safety bar 48 to accomplish this purpose. When the bar 48 is positioned so that the fiat side faces upwardly, the gun is capable of normal firing operation. If, however, it is positioned. so that the semi-cylindrical surface portion faces upwardly, this portion of the bar extends into the recesses ldand 47 and prevents downward movement of either trip bar. The gun is, thus, locked against accidental discharge. It is well to condition the safety bar in this manner after the first spear is inserted during loading.

The pressure arms 5'5 and 56 rest between the operators legs to hold the gun securely while the spears are being drawn into the barrels against spring pressure. This permits the use of both arms in the cocking operation. The set screw 52 permits adjustment to suit the operators physical requirements, suchas the length of his arms.

When the safety is in its off position, rapid actuation of the trigger without attempting to limit its motion will result in almost simultaneous discharge-of both spears.

It can be seen, then, thatthe present construction permits adequate locking of the cocked gun against accidental discharge, it permits individual discharge of the spears, and it permits almost simultaneous projection of the spears. The structure is simple and foolproof and can be readily manufactured from easily-obtained materials.

Othermodes of applying thev principles-of the invention may beemployed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in. the.

following claims, or the equivalent of-such, be employed.

Theinvention having been thus described, what is' claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A, spear gun comprising a handle, two tubular.

barrels extendingthrough the handle, each barrel having a slot located within the handle-a coil spring locatedin each barrel, a trigger pivotally attached to the handle, a first elongated trip bar pivotally connected atone. end

to the handle and movable at the other end through theslot into one of the barrels, a second elongated tripbar hingedly connected at oneend to the handle and movable at the other end through ,the slot into theotherbarrel.

each of the, bars having a notch at its said other end each: notch having parallel upper and lower edges, a connect-.

ing pin joining the trigger. to the-bars and residing in the notches to withdraw the bars from thesaid barrels,

spring, means normally biasing one. ofthetriprbars.

through its slot into the barrel to. a position in.which the connecting pin engages the upper edgesyofi both.

notches, one ofthe said notches in the barsbeingwider than the other so that the lower edge of the notch: of one of the trip bars is contacted before thatof thetother notch and the said one of the trip bars is withdrawn from its barrel before the other when the trigger is'actuatedr slot into one of the barrels, a second elongatedztrip-bar;

hingedly connected at oneend to the handle and movable at the other end through the slotv into theother.

barrel, each of the bars having an elongated notch with parallel-upper-and lower edges extending longitudinally inwardly from its said otherend, a transverse pinfixed to the trigger and residing in theysaid notches-,-spring means normally biasing one of the. trip bars through its slot into the barrel to a position in which the connecting.

pin'engages the upper edges of bothv notches, the width of one of the, notches being substantially greaterthan that of the other, so that the lower edge of the notch of one of the trip .bars is contacted before that-of the other notch and the said one of the. trip barsis'with' drawn from its barrel before the-other when the trigger is actuated.

3. A spear gun comprising a handle, two. tubular barrels extending through the handle, each barrel having: a slot located within the handle, a coil spring located in each barrel, a trigger pivotally attached to the'handle in a plane lying between the barrels, a first elongated trip bar pivotally connected atone end to the handle on one sideof the trigger and movable at the other'end through the slot into one ofthe barrels, a second. elongated trip bar hingedly connected at one end to the handle on the other side of the trigger and movable at the other end through the slot into the other barrel, each of the bars having an elongated notch with parallel upper and lower straight edges extending longitudinally inwardly from its said other end, a transverse pin extending through and fixed to the trigger, the pin extending from the trigger on each side thereof and residing in the said notches, spring means normally biasing one of the trip bars through its slot into the barrel to a position in which the connecting pin engages the upper edges of both notches, the distance between the parallel edges of the notch of the said one of the trip bars being equal to the diameter of the pin, while the distance between the parallel edges of the other notch is considerably greater than the diameter of the pin, so that the lower edges of the notch of the said one of the trip bars is contacted before that of the other notch and the said one of the trip bars is withdrawn from its barrel before the other when the trigger is actuated, the trip bar having the wider notch being normally resiliently biased into position within the barrel.

54,829 France Jan. 18, 1950 Germany Oct. 28, 1909 

